"
I remember to have heard this Passage admired by several People: but
who does not see that the Motions, _viz._ the Windings and Turnings of
the Serpent's Body are here confounded with those of its Heart: and
that at best, 'tis but a mere Point and Pleasantry.
Certainly there's a great Impropriety in putting any kind of Smartness
into Pieces of such a Nature as Dr. _South_'s; but what is still
worse, we generally find these Smartnesses to be quite vague and
superficial; they don't enter, but only play upon the Surface of the
Soul.
Had a certain polite Author been a Cotemporary of the
Doctor's, he'd have told him that
[Greek: Ten men Spoudhhen dichph teirein gheloi, thyn de geloa spoudhe.]
Humour is the only Test of Gravity; and Gravity of Humour. For a
Subject which will not bear Raillery, is suspicious; and a Jest which
will not bear a serious Examination, is certainly false Wit.
These Sports of the Imagination, these Finesses, these Conceits, these
glittering Strokes, these Gaieties, these little cut Sentences, these
ingenious Prodigalities, which are lavished away in our Times, agree
with none but little Works. The Front of St _Paul_'s Church is simple
and majestick. A Cabinet may with Propriety enough contain little
Ornaments.
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